Lost And Found
by Salvatoreboys4ever
Summary: ONB Post Finale Part 1 One shot- Damon wakes up in the tunnels knowing Stefan is gone forever and he is now human. The loss of his brother is breaking him and all he thinks of is his Elena. His thoughts, carrying her out of the school and to his bed, desperately waiting for her to wake up. Over 400 reviews for the 9 stories of this Human Delena series. Helping fans see their future


Author's Note: So sorry, super long first authors note to explain the changes.

I had this posted as a long story of connected separate stories all post finale. But it was getting confusing to me to write them in some sense of order with getting requests for stories that would fit in between what I had already wrote for chapters.

SO I have now split up Our New Beginning story and this will be Part 1 all of them. They will be either one shots or two or three part stories and multiple fandoms. Delena for sure, or Steroline, or Klaroline, Bonenzo, and more. And I will tag the appropriate characters and rating to make it easy to look up as well in the search bar. Feel free to skip the ones you don't like those ships but the story will still carry through each one so you might miss things by skipping them.

I have made changes to some of the stories from when they were originally posted after the VD finale so if you reread them that is great too. If you already reviewed before don't feel you have to again but I'd love to hear from you and treasure every word people take the time to tell me about my stories! I welcome suggestions, requests for story ideas and will add them in as chronologically as possible.

I plan to keep these post finale human Delena stories going for a long time showing the grief and loss and then happiness, and life in college or med school and engagement and marriage and kids and everything in between! Splitting them all up seemed to be the best option to make it go on as long as I could but still have the freedom to add more stories in with any fandom at any time in between other ones. I should have all the stories back up that I deleted from the ONB story by the end of weekend so watch for updates!

I wanted to write this or just something to not make the finale feel so rushed. I wish they had spent like 6 more episodes on saying goodbye. I wish they had more time to mourn Stefan or see pieces of their lives as they started their human lives together. To see the other characters and where they went in their futures. At first I wanted to just write a one shot, just a more detailed ending with more memories and peeks into people's lives but just starting it on Damon's grief and writing what I felt he would be feeling I barely scratched the surface of the ending and all the goodbyes. So there are many stories to come...

I am not even sure there is an audience for this kind of story. If people were happy with the ending then that is great. I personally from waiting and anticipating Delena's reunion for so long felt like it just wasn't enough. They never even spoke, or barely kissed. Yes I realize it was during Stefan's funeral and Damon was grieving but maybe I am the only one who felt like this but I wanted more. I wanted Elena to wake up sooner not just in the last 15 minutes and spend less than a minute with Damon. She had more emotion scenes with Stefan. Damon had more scenes with Katherine. I wanted to see Ian's face when he was hugging her, see him propose like they said they filmed, see that they had kids and what happened in their life. Even saying anything to each other would have been something.

Anyway, I wrote what I felt was a first of what could be their lives after the show. Please tell me if this is a story you would like me to tell and what you would love to see in their futures or the futures of any other characters.

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Damon's eyes snapped open. He remembered everything. It had hurt him so much to compel his brother to leave him. To live. He wanted so much to live. He had been waiting years to see... _her_. How could Stefan just die like that saving her, but losing all the future that he had been dreaming of for so long?

He looked around. There was no one there. It was so quiet. He felt different, lighter. He had been looking in his brother's eyes as he felt Stefan stab him with something. At first he thought it had been vervain. His brother must have been on vervain and that was why he hadn't left and let him deal with the evil Kat himself.

His eyes spied a syringe on the ground beside him and he picked it up. It did not smell like vervain at all. It was different. Something was off. He let things sink in for a moment and then he knew.

He hurriedly grasped a sharp rock on the ground and raked it across the inside of his hand. The blood rushed from the wound and it was not healing. He was human! That was the cure Stefan jammed into him! Oh God.

"Stefan!" he called out, when deep down he knew there would be no answer. He felt overwhelmed with emotion and felt this ache and emptiness in his soul, knowing his brother was gone. He crawled forward to the doorway in the tunnels. The rock walls were blackened with the hellfire that must have raced through. He wanted there to be some sign that his brother was not gone. That maybe he just stabbed Katherine and threw her into the fire. But no this was Stefan we were talking about. He would not have taken any chances with her not being in hell when the fire raged. He would have held her to the very end. That hero hair, even as a human, was still in place until his death.

Damon felt tears slipping down his cheeks as he thought of all that Stefan died for. He felt a lump of emotion in his throat as he saw a glint of metal on the ground just by the doorway in the hall. Stumbling closer he picked it up letting out a sob. It was his baby brother's daylight ring. "No, Stefan, no," he sobbed, his fingers gripping tightly to the rock wall of the tunnel.

He put his head in his hands and cried for the loss of his only brother. How could he go on without him? He missed him already. They had become so close over the last decade. He wanted more time with him. More time to live and be brothers the way they always should have been.

He held Stefan's ring tightly in his hand and just let the tears fall. His teary eyes were blurring his vision but he caught sight of a piece of the dagger that they had used to subdue Katherine. It was melted into a weird shape but there it lay in the middle of the tunnel. Stefan had killed her. She was gone, just like they had planned. They had finally beat the bitch and she did not get the last word. She was gone forever.

 _Elena..._

She was the next thing on his mind with all that had happened. Stefan wanted him to live. He wanted them to be together. He had no idea if Bonnie's plan to send the hellfire back to hell had even worked. All he could see was that the tunnels were black with smoke and that the fire had indeed been here. He sniffled and wiped his face with his sleeve, swallowing more tears that wanted to fall.

He pulled himself to his feet, tucking his brother's ring into his pocket. That was all he had left of him now and he was never going to let that go. He pushed off from leaning against the walls and started running toward the tunnel under the school. He was surprised at himself that he could not blur himself there. It would take some getting used to not having his powers. But he ran as fast as he could toward his future. The future he prayed it would still be there when he got there.

Katherine wanted to burn her alive as her final act of revenge against Damon and Stefan for all that they had done to her. He knew she was laying in the basement in the school. She was fragile and human just like he was now and he ran faster and faster scared that in one day he could lose not only his only brother but the woman he loved as well. Stefan wanted them to be happy. He wanted Damon to live a long, happy life with her. And he prayed that was still possible.

He spun around the corner under the school and dragged himself up into the basement. "Elena? Elena, baby. Are you okay?" He had no idea if she would hear him. But part of him wanted her to know he was coming for her.

The basement was not smoke filled at all. There was no heat radiating from the walls or the floor. He gasped with relief knowing that she would not have been burned to death. Bonnie's plan must have worked! He could not contain his joy at that thought as he ran around to where she had been laying. "Elena! I'm here. It's going to be okay."

He collapsed to his knees when he saw her, his expensive dress pants landing on the dirty floor as he sank his tired, weak body to her side. She still looked so peaceful. So perfect. He smoothed a lock of her hair from her face and gazed on her lovingly. "It's going to be okay. We did it. Bonnie did it." He choked on more tears. "Stefan too. He saved you and me."

He pulled her into his lap on the grimy floor and cradled her in his arms. "I was ready to die to save you. I wanted to be with you so badly but I just couldn't let him sacrifice himself for me." He sniffled and pulled her head up closer to rest on his shoulder. "My stupid brother would not take no for an answer. He wanted us to live, to be together, to be happy, baby. And I can't believe I now have that chance." He kissed her forehead and bent his one leg to stand up, carrying her in his arms.

He cradled her close, her head against his chest as he stepped out into the darkness outside the school. Even in the dim light of the moon he could see that Mystic Falls had not burned to the ground. His town was there standing tall and proud against annihilation.

He laid her in the front seat of his car, buckling her in, closing the door gently and walked over the his door. He remembered how many times he had just vamp sped from the house to his car, rarely walking. And it felt so strange that that was all he could do now. He looked down at her as they drove and smiled to himself despite the tears still wanting to fall. She would be okay. He would never let anyone of anything hurt her ever again.

Damon drove quickly toward the boarding house. Passing through the center of town, he saw Matt and his dad just standing there looking up at the clock tower. He pulled over and got out, walking to stand beside them.

Matt turned to him. He could see so much emotion in the young boys face. "Is Elena?"

Damon nodded, not even needing him to finish his sentence. "She is okay. She's right here." He pointed to the passenger side of his car. Matt stepped closer and he saw him smile when he saw her. Matt turned back to him his eyes watery too.

"Bonnie did it." He said with relief in his voice. "We watched the fire start to race out of the tower. It would have killed us, but then it just suddenly stopped and got sucked back in. Then there was this roar and a few minutes later the fire was pouring back up inside of the bell and it was gone."

Matt took in a deep breath and Damon saw his dad come to his side. "But I lost Vicky again. She rang the bell and then got swallowed up by the fire. I know it was the right thing and that she would have died anyway, but it still hurts." Matt looked up at him, his blue eyes full of sadness.

Damon stepped closer and put his hand on Donovan's shoulder. "I know how you feel. I lost Stefan today too. He sent Katherine to hell and burned along with her. And he gave me the cure. So I'm human just like you."

He sniffled back more tears. "Look I know we have never really gotten along much and you have a lot to hate me for but I just want to tell you I'm sorry, for everything."

Matt smiled through his teary eyes. "I'm so sorry about Stefan, Damon. And thank you for what you said about Vicky. I know you are such different person now. I can't even imagine you human. Wow." He looked toward Damon's car. "But that beautiful lady in there will be so lucky to have you. I know how much you fought to get her back."

Damon smiled back at him having no idea what to say really. It almost sounded like Matt was starting to forgive him. They just stood there for a few seconds and then Damon started heading back to the car and he saw Matt nod for him to go. Damon watched him turn and his dad embraced him. He was happy that they had each other.

He pulled into the driveway of the boarding house a few minutes later and gathered her in his arms. Walking up the steps he was overcome with more emotion again. He knew his brother would never meet him at the door again. He would never seen him come in from hunting those stupid animals late at night when Damon was sitting in the parlor drinking. He would never see him smile at him across the table as he made pancakes.

He was gone.

Struggling to keep it together Damon kicked open the door and stepped inside. Looking around he saw her coffin still sitting open in the big room. He cringed at the memory of thinking he had seen her standing there in her gorgeous blue sparking dress. He had heard her barely whisper his name. She was just gazing at him with what looked like so much love in her eyes. Damn, that it had been the dopple bitch and not his Elena. He had felt it the instant he touched her and her laugh at her tricking him had been chilling to say the least.

No, he thought. He was not going to put her back down in that damn coffin. He lifted her up more in his arms and carried her up the stairs and pushed open the door to his bedroom. She belonged in his bed and that was where she was going to stay till she woke up. He did not care how long it took, he would be right here.

He slipped off his jacket and shoes and crawled up on the bed beside her and gathered her in his arms. They had been through so much to get to this point. So much. He had fought so hard to fight the damn siren and the hold she tried to have on his brain, on his memories of his precious Elena. There were times that he felt so empty inside. So defeated. All it took was a touch and a fucking song in his ear and that bitch could make him do almost anything she wanted. He hated the months he was under her control. He fought so hard to hang onto Elena's presence in his life then.

He reached around into his pants pocket and pulled out Elena's necklace. Caroline had given it back to him after the ceremony. He could see she had been so touched that he had found a way for Elena to be there for that special day in her life. He ran it through his fingers and sighed. This little necklace had been so powerful in him finding his way back from the darkness. It helped him pull out of the hold the siren had on his mind. He could feel its power whenever he touched it.

He lifted his arm out from under Elena's head, unclasped it and put it around her neck. He straightened the charm and bent to kiss it before laying it against the hollow of her throat. This necklace did not just symbolize her love for Stefan anymore. It now meant so much to him and it belonged on her neck when she woke up, so he could tell her all about how it helped him fight to come back from the darkness.

He smoothed her hair down and lay lower, burying his face in her chestnut brown locks. Even laying for so long in that coffin, she still smelled like Elena. He could still smell however faint, the sweet smell that was just her. No shower gel, or perfume of any other scents just the scent of her and he moaned, just aching for her to wake up.

He thought again of his brother and the tears were not far behind. He did not know how he was going to live another 60 odd years without him. He would never forget the sacrifice he made for him. He let the tears flow and soak into his Elena's hair as he pulled her closer to him. They lay there like that with the moonlight getting brighter and brighter as the clouds thinned more in the sky. He was so exhausted and was soon asleep, his silent tears trailing down his cheeks.

When he woke up, he was startled by a loud banging from downstairs and he leapt up and slid out from under her to see what was going on. He had barely made it into the hall when he saw Caroline's tear streaked face and she gasped as she saw him.

"Damon? Where's?" She leaned heavily on the wall, a sob bursting from her throat. "Where's...where's my husband?"

Damon opened his mouth to answer her and had no idea what to say. He had just married his brother to the woman he loved and now she was standing there just begging him with her eyes that he would not shatter their happiness.

"Care, I...I'm so sorry." He felt more tears in the corners of his eyes. He had hardly ever cried in his whole life and now it seemed the floodgates were open and he could not stop crying.

He watched her as she collapsed to the floor. "No, Damon, no." Her eyes snapped up to his and his chin quivered. No words seemed to fit. There was no right way to say to his brother's wife that he was gone forever.

"Tell me, I'm wrong. Tell me he didn't go through with it. There was another way to destroy Katherine right?" He felt her grip his pants as she knelt in front of him.

He went down onto his knees too and put his hands on her shoulders as the sobs wracked her body. "No, I'm so sorry. Stefan's gone." He looked into her eyes watching the hope fade and be replaced with absolute anguish. Her head fell to his lap and he put an arm around her to comfort her. She was probably the only person in the whole world who understood even a tiny bit of his own pain of losing Stefan.

He squeezed her arm and lifted her head. "I tried to stop him Caroline. I saw how much he wanted to be with you. To have a life with you." He gritted his teeth at the memory. "Hell, I _had_ stopped him being the damn martyr. I compelled him to walk away to go back to you and leave me to die. I was going to send Katherine back to hell. I was prepared to die to save Elena."

Caroline sniffled, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand. "Then what happened Damon? How are you still here?"

He was sure there was a part of Caroline that hated that he was here. He would not blame her one bit. He had seen how much she loved his brother. He had been so proud to be the one to marry them and see Stefan finally find happiness. And having that happiness torn apart that same night was heart wrenching for him and he knew she was hurting so much more.

"Stefan was smarter than me. That was all it was. He was on vervain and he pretended to be compelled. So when I watched him walk away believing I had sent him back to you, he came racing back and injected me with the cure before I could stop him."

Caroline's eyes widened. "He what? He gave you the cure?"

Damon nodded and stood back up. He motioned for her to follow him. He heard her gasp when she saw Elena laying so peacefully on his bed. "Yeah, he did." He sat down and tangled his fingers with his loves on top of the blanket. "I'm human now too. Just like Elena." Stefan died to give me my life with Elena."

"Oh my God," she mumbled holding her head in her hands and she sat down on the opposite side of the bed. "But why? Why did he have to die? Was there not another way you could defeat Katherine? We had not even started our life together and now its all just gone!" She cried more, her arm over her mouth muffling her sobs.

Damon looked sadly back at her. "I wish it was different, for him, for you, for me too. I miss him already Care. Fuck, I feel so damn guilty just watching and waiting for the love of my life to wake up and seeing you, knowing you will never see Stefan again. If I could have gone back and changed it and brought him back to you I would have. I wanted to!"

Caroline sucked in a breath and looked back up at him. "I know you would have. I'm not blaming you, Damon. I'm not. I just don't know anything anymore. I just got married and I had barely changed out of my wedding dress when I had to kiss my groom goodbye forever."

"Where are the girls?" Damon asked, seeing she had raced in here by herself. He knew they would help her feel better. It could take a long time for her to get over his brother and she needed her children and her friends around her. Right now it did not even look like she wanted to accept it and believe him that she would never see her husband again.

"Ric took them and just started driving to get out of Mystic Falls, They were not safe at home or at The Armory so we just drove. I texted him a few minutes ago and he said they stopped for the night a few hours from here."

Damon paused and thought of something. He had time with Stefan before the ceremony as they were both getting dressed and he had asked his brother how he was doing with everything. Stefan had replied that he was nervous, mostly about Katherine but that he had no doubt in his mind that he wanted to marry Caroline. But then he had showed him a gift he had made for her and was going to give to her on their honeymoon.

He sat up, kissing Elena's hand and his eyes darted to their friends. He motioned for her to follow him and he led her to Stefan's room and creaked the door open. "Stefan had something for you. He showed it to me before the wedding." He reached over and lifted a big, shiny, wrapped box from the table and walked over to her. "He was so proud of it and knew you would love it."

Caroline wiped her face and cleared her throat. With trembling fingers she took the box and moved to sit down on his bed to open it. Damon stepped closer and leaned in. If there was ever a way to see his brother again in this life or the next, he wanted to tell Stefan how she looked when she saw his gift.

She pulled at the box and tossed the top off of it and unwrapped the pink tissue. Inside was a thick book with a dark brown cover. She opened it and her mouth fell open. Inside were pages and pages of writing and pictures and little memories of their life together. Stefan had told Damon that he had wanted her to see what he had wrote about her as he was falling in love with her. Even his thoughts when they were just friends.

"Oh, wow. This is amazing." The blonde vampire looked like she was in awe and Damon was so happy that something in this day could actually be considered happy.

"Stefan told me he was going to give it to you on your honeymoon. I knew even with him gone, he would want you to have it."

He could see dried flat flowers tucked inside the pages and poems and pictures as Caroline flipped through it. He bent and kissed the top of her head. "I'll give you some privacy." He saw her nod and sniffle again. He made his way back to the door to go back to his girl sleeping in his bed.

"Damon?" he heard his sister-in-law call to him and he turned back around. Her face was streaked with tears again and he saw her chin quivering as she held the book tight to her chest. "Thank you. I know you tried."

He nodded to her sadly. _Obviously not hard enough_ he thought to himself. He pulled the door closed seeing her curled up in a ball on his brother's bed and crying silently holding her book of memories in her grasp. Once the door was closed he leaned on it and slid down to the floor, his head fell back against the wood and his eyes closed, hardly believing all that had happened in a day.

The day started bright and sunny and full of happiness for Caroline getting married. There was laughing and crying. The munchkins were twirling in their dresses and Damon could not help smiling too.

He was not in the room then but he saw Bonnie who he had been told was not planning on sharing in her best friend's happiness on account of his brother, come dressed and smiling to support her despite her feelings he was sure. Something told him his friend Enzo had something to do with her change of heart.

Then the wedding had been beautiful and full of romance and the couple had said such heartfelt vows. He had been so proud to be marrying them. His brother had been through hell, literally. And they had both come out the other side, trying to find redemption for all they had done.

He had comforted his brother just that morning, telling him how much he deserved the happiness awaiting him. That despite everything, all he had to do was reach out and take it.

Sure the wedding had been for Katherine's benefit and was rushed but it was a joining of their two hearts all the same. And it was probably one of the most perfect moments that he had been apart of in Stefan's life.

It took him by surprise now that he was gone, how much had changed for them. That he had come back to Mystic Falls determined to continue to destroy Stefan and make his life miserable as he had promised him so many years ago. And now in the tunnels, they had embraced and both begged to be the one to save the other.

After so long they were like family again and not enemies. Damon had forgiven Stefan for turning him in 1864 and now sitting on the floor outside his brother's bedroom door, listening to his wife crying for him, he was truly happy that Stefan had forced him to turn. If he hadn't they would not have had the opportunity to find their way back to each other again. Katherine had all but destroyed their brother bond back then. But now they had both found love and happiness and joy in their lives and Stefan had given his life, to allow Damon the chance to live his with Elena. That was the greatest gift he could have ever given him.

He sniffled again, feeling more tears wanting to fall. He felt so overwhelmed. He could usually take everything in stride; calm, cool, collected and not shed a tear in the direst of circumstances. But now he just let go and let his emotions control him. His absolute anguish that his only brother was gone, his relief that they had saved the love of his life, his exhaustion from fighting and almost giving in to the fucking devil before his brother again saved his life.

He ran his hand through his hair, fighting back the tears and nearly growled with anger. Hell, Stefan saved him so many times in his lifetime. And damn it, _all_ he wanted to do was save him...for once. But Stefan did this for him and Elena. He knew he could not just wallow in his grief. He needed to honor his brother's sacrifice and _live_ with her. Just the thought of her gave him strength in his sorrow.

Damon pulled himself to his feet and walked slowly back to his room. He inhaled sharply as he saw her laying so peacefully on his bed and he lifted her up and tucked her under the blankets and crawled in beside her. He pulled her closer, burying his nose in the back of her neck under her hair and just let the emotions in. All the rage, the loss, the pain, the complete and total emptiness he felt, and cried against her neck until he finally fell into a restless sleep full of nightmares of him seeing Stefan dying over and over.

He woke up multiple times throughout the night, snapping his head up, crying out his brother's name and then would look around and see it was another nightmare. Then he would gather her tighter in his arms and his eyes would close again, comforted only by her presence, her scent, the soothing peace he felt just holding her tight to him.

Each time he woke he hoped for a dream of happiness or joy or the future, but each time it was worse than the last, like since he did not see Stefan's last moments, he imagined him in more and more pain with each nightmare. Tears streaked his face, from the sadness, the fear and how vivid each nightmare had been.

It felt like the night had gone on forever. He had even gone downstairs at one point and downed glass after glass of his best bourbon just to stop thinking of the hell his brother must have felt, burning alive as a human. But he had forgotten he was human too, and how weak his tolerance could be and stopped after the fifth glass made him dizzy and he could hardly make it back up the stairs.

He collapsed back in his huge bed and burrowed his head back against her neck. He swallowed a sob as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Please wake up, baby."

And the tears flowed again. "I need you."

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A/N: Hope you liked it.

Please review if you hadn't already

Thanks so much for all the support and love. DE fandom ladies rock!

Please check out Mariah April May's new story The Scandal, and you have to read her In Love With The Enemy that just posted the epilogue. It was incredible.

scarlett2112 posted an amazing chapter in Tomorrow that will pull on your heartstrings. All her stories are incredible!

My sweet beta delenasmut had two great stories going right now, check them out. Plus she just wrote a super sweet one shot Someone like Damon.

And my new friend VitsAsh has the most precious one shot call Remembering Birthdays.


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